SLU win with rookie keeper

CANTON  After enduring a pair of difficult losses, St. Lawrences resolve didnt waver on this night.

Freshman goaltender Tyler Parks made 20 saves to win his first collegiate start and defenseman Justin Baker recorded a four-point night, as the Saints outlasted Northeastern, 6-4, on Saturday in a nonconference game before 1,685 at Appleton Arena to cap off the schools hockey alumni weekend.

Jeremy Wick and Matt Carey contributed two goals each for St. Lawrence (4-2), which rebounded from two straight losses to hand the 20th-ranked Huskies (5-1) their first setback of the season.

We wanted to be really hard to play against tonight, St. Lawrence coach Greg Carvel said. We were looking for some redemption after the way we played [Friday] night and I think we responded very well.

In the wake of Friday nights 6-3 loss to Northeastern in which the Saints squandered a two-goal lead, the St. Lawrence coaching staff decided to shake up the lineup.

They turned to Parks in place of senior Matt Weninger. Parks responded in a big way in his debut, particularly in the third period when he stopped 12 of 13 shots to hold off the Huskies.

I was pretty nervous with it being my first college hockey game  its was a big moment, Parks said. But my team definitely helped me out so much, they were blocking shots for me and were just battling for me the whole game.

Parks got the nod over Weninger, who had made a school-record 54 consecutive starts through Friday.

Said Carvel: [Parks] made that huge save for us in the first minute, and we got some momentum early on. I think he was really tested late in the game, and he made some big saves. I think he played really steady.

The Saints, who generated their biggest offensive production of the season, scored three-power play goals, including one each from Wick and Carey within a span of 2 1/2 minutes in the second period to take control.

I thought we started off OK for a while, but then we took some penalties, Northeastern coach Jim Madigan said. There were some questionable calls, and they have a good power play  if you put them on the power play theyre going to convert and they did.

After St. Lawrence built a 3-1 edge, Northeastern drew within one when John Stevens scored on a rebound at 11:55 of the middle period.

This time, the Saints held fast as Wick took a sharp cross-ice pass from Baker and fired a one-timer past goalie Derick Roy at 15:02.

We were excited to get those couple goals there, Carey said. When Wick scored that one goal, I think our whole bench just went insane because we really wanted this win.

Baker also set up their next man-advantage goal by sending a pass to Carey, who buried the puck into the right side of the goal for a 5-2 lead at 17:18.

To a man, I thought everyones game was a little bit better tonight, Carvel said. Baker was an absolute star with what he did with the puck.

St. Lawrence generated five power-play goals over the past two games after managing only two over its first four outings.

Weve been practicing pretty hard the past couple weeks with our power play, said senior Greg Carey. Weve gotten a lot of good looks with it, but it just comes down to getting comfortable and trying to get back in the groove with the new guys we have.

Braden Pimm scored in the final minute of the second period for Northeastern.

which would get no closer than two goals as Patrick Doherty followed with an unassisted empty-net goal with 1:53 left in the game.

I think we learned some lessons from last night, Carvel said. We played well for 60 minutes against a team, which has good skill.

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